The food dye scare has exposed what a shambles the Food Standards Agency is.

The list of affected products was only published on its website and as thousands of people tried to get the information it was virtually impossible to access the site on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week when the story broke.

There has to be a better way to manage the affairs of our food chain than relying on every corner shop owner to surf the web for critical information.

In this case it is fortunate the risk to the public is so slight. One pack of contaminated Worcester sauce crisps is by no means a lethal dose but would the management of the crisis have been any more efficient if it was? Sadly, on last week's evidence, I fear not.